Mar 7, 2010

On Beauty (2)
Some observations on Taiwan and the Taiwanese

The food at my breakfast place is great; so is its bustling atmosphere. But what impresses me most is the speed with which the food is cooked, served, and paid for. The workers do all the math in their heads, at lightening speed: take, pass on, and fulfill orders, wrap, bag and serve, and calculate what was consumed, total due, change to be made. Instantly. What a difference with Thailand where everything is slow and where adding two two-digit numbers requires repeat use of calculator (since so often mistakes are made on its first use, one has to calculate and then -- recalculate: 55 + 22 = 77; I am not making this up).

So: this is my first observation: these people are smart. It could be genetic -- the settlement of Taiwan was a gene-selecting process, the dummies, one assumes, stayed behind; or perhaps just didn't make it in the scramble of the settlement (throughout 17th and early 18th centuries there were about 8 men to every woman here, presumably the women preferred the smart guys and the dummies failed to reproduce); or it could be cultural -- Taiwanese, being Chinese, believe in education and rote learning; my sister's daughter must memorize the Mendeleyev chart for her high school entrance exam (do I hear you ask: what is Mendeleyev?); or it could simply be the function of a better government which provides better schools; which in turn insist on students memorizing the multiplication table. Whatever the causes, god save the Thais if they ever have to compete with the Taiwanese on anything like a level playing field.

(To some extent, they already do: prices -- other than of real estate -- are about the same in both countries; yet wages in Taiwan are about five times higher. If the difference is due to higher productivity, then Taiwanese breakfast places should be expected to serve food five times as fast. Direct observation bears this out).

The second observation: these people are ugly. The women have neither breasts, nor hips, nor buttocks. All faces are flat, all buddies tubby, all legs short -- the calves especially. The skin is often dull and mottled. This is not to condemn them: my best friends are ugly and I find their ugliness endearing; it is to state the obvious fact. Among South East Asians, Taiwanese stand out for their marked absence of good looks. This has nothing to do with racial prejudice: all Asians can see this obvious fact -- the Taiwanese themselves included. "If you see an ugly, poorly dressed girl, she's Taiwanese", they themselves say. Yes, as everywhere, some people are better looking than others, but generally, the standard is low. Good looking Taiwanese are almost always waishengren -- usually northern Chinese, but there are a few chaozhouren, too; unless they are aborigines. You can walk safely Taipei's streets: you will not be struck by sudden passion at first sight.

The causes of this deficit of good looks are mysterious. Was Taiwan (Fujian?) subject to differential migration? (Did pretty people find it easier to survive on the mainland and therefore experience less pressure to migrate?) Was there -- in an environment of arranged marriages -- a breeding preference for health, intelligence, and brawn which discounted value of good looks? (Since Mommy didn't care if her son's bride is good looking? Indeed, perhaps preferred one who isn't?)

The second suggestion -- that beauty has been bred out of the Taiwanese -- seems to have some evidence in its favor: the Taiwanese are not just ugly; they also lack the most basic aesthetic skills. It is as if they were... beauty-blind. They normally do not dress up; but when they do -- such as when they go to national theater -- the results are so bad that they are -- funny. My dearest friends live in ugly apartments, sit on indifferent furniture, wear non-descript clothing, and when we all go shopping for porcelain together, they appreciate high price ("this stuff is expensive") and a good bargain ("I haggled 35% off this thing!"); they notice neither the color nor the shape nor the workmanship.

As a result, when the Taiwanese do make a fortune, as many do, their standard of living does not improve: they may move to a bigger house, and that house may be in a better neighborhood, but it will be just as uncomfortable and as ugly-furnished as the one before.

Yet, the second suggestion -- that sensitivity to beauty has been bred out of the Taiwanese -- cannot be entirely true: the Taiwanese are not blind to human good looks. Which is my third notable observation about the Taiwanese. All foreigners like to visit Taiwan because the Taiwanese are so famously hospitable. (This virtue was common among all Chinese prior to the cultural revolution; Russell's famous description of the hospitality of Penkingese ca. 1930 still applies to the Taiwanese, even if it does not to the Pekingese anymore). But the good-looking foreigners -- even the mildly so -- are loved to death here: wined and dined, served, cared for and entertained. Seeing one, the Taiwanese will exclaim: oh, he is so good looking! He looks like a movie star!

It is as if, in the arms race which goes on among men, the Taiwanese have decided to specialize entirely in intelligence and hard work to the exclusion of good looks; and they have invested all their assets there. For all this, there remains with them the ability to perceive good looks in others; they have not managed to breed out the mechanism of beauty perception; when they see human beauty, they do recognize it; indeed, they are struck by it; and they then set out to secure through their native great charm and profligate gift-giving.

Mar 5, 2010

Beauty is a totalitarian tool

Beauty is a tool of totalitarian power. It controls minds; and is rare enough to be easily monopolized.